Reflection

This essay presents the reflective analysis of my communication skills. The analysis is conducted on the basis of the information collected with the help of 5 diagnostic tools.  Apart from this through the analysis two issues in the communication are identified.  The first issue that is required to be developed are communication in public, meetings, group, dyad, with strangers and acquaintances and I have a moderate public speaking anxiety as I am not able to interact with the people of different cultural groups. The second issue of communication is most of the time I am able to control to be quite but it is difficult for me to be quiet in certain situations. In addition to this, a literature review is also conducted focused on the areas of communication issues and the main concepts associated with the communication issues. The reflection process helped in gaining the knowledge related to the enhancing the communication and I can implement the knowledge through involving the activities in order to reduce or eliminate the issues of communication. The activities are reflected in the action plan. 

In order to analyze the communication skills, the self reflection is the one of the process that is highly helpful and helps in providing the knowledge about the abilities of communication with the people (Nielsen, 2008). Mainly, I have utilized five diagnostic tools for the purpose to analyze the effectiveness of the communication in the different situations that are Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC), Nonverbal Immediacy Scale Self Report (NIS-S), Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension (PRICA), Talkaholic Scale and Tolerance for disagreement (TFD). Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC) was used as the first tool for analyzing the ability to communicate with the different people (McCroskey & McCroskey, 1986). Nonverbal Immediacy Scale Self Report (NIS-S) was used as the second tool for analyzing the differences in the expression of the non verbal immediacy (Richmond, McCroskey, & Johnson, 2003).  Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension was used as the third tool to analyze the feeling of the individual towards communication in different communication situations and the behaviour of the individual (Berry & Woods, 2007). Talkaholic Scale was used as the fourth tool for analyzing the tendency to over communicate in compulsive manner (Worthington, 2017). Tolerance for disagreement was used as the fifth tool for analyzing the degree to which an individual tolerate the disagreement of others upon an opinion true to the individual (Teven, Richmond, & McCroskey, 1998). These tools eventually helped me to identify the communication issues that I have.

Diagnostic Tools Used

The diagnostic tools helped in analyzing my communication skills. I found through the analysis of Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC) that I am able to communicate with the friend more effectively in comparison to the acquaintances, in public, meetings, groups, dyad and with strangers. In relation to communicating in public, my score was 80 which denote that I am not able to communicate effectively in public and the score is medium. My score related to communicating in meeting was 76.6 which was a medium score. In context to communicating in group my score was 80. In dyad, my score was 83.3. Regarding communication with strangers, my score was 72.5.  In communication with acquaintances, I scored 67.5 which are medium. I scored 100 in relation to communication with friends which was a high score. The scores revealed that I need to enhance the ability to communicate effectively with the different group of people and in different situations (Dwyer, 2012). Nonverbal Immediacy Scale Self Report (NIS-S) indicated high scores which denote that my ability of expression of nonverbal immediacy was good as I scored 96 which denote high nonverbal immediacy. Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension (PRICA) helped in identifying that I am afraid of interacting with the people belonging to different cultural groups as I scored 68 which is a high score. I scored 37 in the Talkaholic Scale which denotes that I am borderline talkaholic and I am able to control to be quiet mostly but sometimes I am not able to be quiet in some situations. Tolerance for disagreement tools helped in identifying that I have high ability to tolerate the disagreement of the others as the score for TFD was 66 which is high.

The self-analysis tools used for analyzing the communication skills helped in bringing out two issues of communication. The two issues in communication that I have are mainly that I am a border line talkaholic and I have moderate public speaking anxiety and also I am not able to interact with the people belonging to different culture (Wiseman & Koester, 2010). In context to fear of public speaking and communicating with the people from different culture, my scores are moderate and I believe that it is important for me to develop this area. It will provide the benefit to me as the elimination of the anxiety will help me to communicate in an effective (Lane, 2016). In context to talkaholic scale, I am a border line talkaholic and it is important for me to control myself to be quiet as over communication can result in problems. Overcoming the two of the issues in the communication will help me enhance my ability to communicate and will also provide benefits in the future (Hargie, 2006).

Finding of Diagnostic Tools

Considering the fear of public speaking and inability to communicate with the different people which is the first communication issue, an incident happened with me was that – 2 months ago my boss assigned me and my colleague with the responsibility to introduce newly developed product to the members of the company and the external stakeholders of the company. It was a big responsibility on our shoulders to present the newly developed product. As per the instructions of my boss I was supposed to give the presentation for the initial 10 to 15 minutes and after that my colleague has to present the further details about the new product. I was prepared for presenting the newly developed product and so confident that I can present this product in from the other employees and the external stakeholders. On the decided day of introducing the new product to the employees and the external stakeholders, I started presenting the new product to the people. Initially everything was going okay and as per the plan. In the beginning, I introduced myself but after few minutes I became very nervous to present the newly developed product as A though of this big responsibility came to my mind. I looked at the people sitting in front of me and I became blank and I was not able to speak a word. I was prepared for the presentation but I failed to speak and present the new product. I tried but I was afraid to speak in front of large number of people. Later, my colleague took my place and started presenting the product. The experience was horrible. It made me felt really bad that I was not able to speak in front of large number of people and let down my boss as well. I was not able to present the product because of the fear of public speaking and it resulted in such kind of situation in the end.  

Regarding talkaholic issue, which is the second communication issue, an incident took place with me at my workplace. About 15 days ago, my direct manager assigned me with the responsibility to accomplish the task as per the instructions. Few days later I presented my work to the direct manager. The senior manager called me and my direct manager for the meeting. He said that the work is not as per the instructions. My direct manager said that he provided with all the instruction to me. The senior manager mentioned that there were some changes in the instruction and the changes would have been done as per the changed instructions. My direct manager blame it all on me that I was not concentrating on the work assigned. Initially, I tried not to speak as it was my senior manager who did not know about the actual things and miscommunication between me and my direct manager. I wanted not to bring out the main matter in front of the senior manager. But when I found that it was my direct manager whose mistake resulted in the errors in the final work and he blamed everything on me then I was not able to control myself and speak up that it was not my fault. The direct manager had not provided me with any kind of instructions related to amendments in the task in the last stage of the work and I completed the task as per the initial instructions only (McQuerrey, 2018).

Issues in Communication

The two of the situation indicates the communication issues. The first situation arises due to my fear of public speaking, hence, it is important for me work upon it and reduce the issues so that no such situation will occur in future. This communication issue is creating problems for me and I am not able to give my best (Candlin & Sarangi, 2011). The second situation occurred because I am a borderline talkaholic and I cannot stop myself from speaking up. I could have talked to my direct manager after the meeting about the mistake in the final work and could have admitted that the things happened due to lack of the communication between me and direct manager. But I was not able to control myself and speak up in front of the senior manager about everything that actually happened. This issue of being border line talkaholic resulted in problem for direct manager. It is important for me to control myself to speak in that kind of situations. The development and elimination of the communication issues will help me enhance my communication skills and the abilities. The development in the communication will also provide me with the benefits and no such situations will arise in the future (Paulston, 2010). The improvement in the communication skills will enhance my confidence to communicate with the different people and I will be able to speak in front of large number of people easily (Spitzberg & Cupach, 2011). It is important to develop the communication skills and meet the requirement of the development in the communication in order to make sure that I can present myself in a better manner.

Communication competence is considered as the ability to select behaviour of the communication which is effective as well as appropriate for a particular situation. Component model which sets framework for the individual to become a competent communicator. The interpersonal competence helps in achieving the communication goals. The model is mainly used for describing the competence. It includes three components that are motivation, skill and knowledge.  Motivation is the desire to communicate in competent manner. Skill is the ability to behave in a certain situation. Knowledge signifies knowing the kind of behaviour that is best for a specific situation (Shodganga , 2010).

Public speaking is considered as an act particular oral communication which combines linguistic, physiological, psychological, and cultural factors.  The public speaking competence is a determinant of the success in the professional areas and it is also one of the strategic skills that help in gaining competitive edge, positive reputation and credibility. Marinho, De Medeiros, Gama, and Teixeira (2018) conducted a research to identify the occurrence of the fear of public speaking in the students and the association of it with the socio demographic variables. It has been found through the research by the authors that many of the students have the fear of public speaking and most of the students are taking classes in order to improve the public speaking (Marinho, De Medeiros, Gama, & Teixeira, 2017). The females do not participate much in the public speaking. It has been also found that the higher number of female students have the fear of public speaking. The fear of the public speaking is one of the barriers in the process of communication (Marinho, De Medeiros, Gama, & Teixeira, 2017).    

Analysis of Two Recent Professional Interactions

Talkaholic scale is an advanced method that is used for the identification of the awareness of the tendency of the individual to over communicate in consistent and a compulsive manner. The people are analyzed through the scale as the individuals whose score is more than two standard deviations over the mean on scale are considered as the talkaholics (McCroskey & Richmond, 2009). This is an instrument that is one dimensional and also demonstrates test retest reliability good internal reliability and also has well-built face validity. The identification of the individuals with over communication is possible through this instrument. The people who are more talkative are more likely to over communicate. They are not able to control themselves from speaking. They face issue sometimes due to their talkativeness. The talkative people are more likely have the tendency to speak (McCroskey & Richmond, 2009).

Immediacy is a psychological availability and it is a useful component. It is found by the author that the verbal items are not able to measure the immediacy. One can measure effectiveness of the person through the verbal items. The non verbal items are helpful in measuring the immediacy. Traditionally, the immediacy used to be measured through the verbal and non verbal both behaviours. The non verbal immediacy was accepted as a legitimate immediacy measure although the validity of the verbal items was questioned. In the research study, construct validity and face validity of verbal immediacy scale was examined by the author. It has been concluded by the author in the research that non verbal and verbal both type of items provides valid measures related to immediacy. Although, the author recommended new iteration of immediacy scale that is omitting some of the items and emphasizing on strongly associated immediacy (Wilson & Locker Jr., 2008).

The effect of the talkativeness upon the interpersonal perceptions like leadership ability, source credibility, interpersonal attraction, leadership ability, attitude similarity and the powerfulness has found linear, positive and strong relationships. The author emphasized upon communication correlates of the compulsive communication. It has been found through the results of the research that there is low positive relationship between the compulsive communication and the other trait orientations of communication such as willingness to communicate, assertiveness, neuroticism and the self-perceived communication competence (McCroskey & Richmond, 1995). Apart from this, it has been found that there is low negative relationship between the compulsive competence and the communication apprehension and introversion. It is negatively correlated with behavioural shyness self reports. Through the categorical analysis, it has been found that the talkaholics are the people with the score – two standard deviations more than the mean on measure and are having low behavioural shyness, high extroversion, high willingness to communicate, high responsiveness and high assertiveness. Hence, the attributions that the person talks a lot are probable on the basis of qualitative perceptions in place of the quantitative perceptions (McCroskey & Richmond, 1995).

Rosenfeld, Grant III & McCroskey (1995) conducted a research study with the aim to test conjecture of Chesebro on the basis of the research upon the students at risk that students are not academically good when they are apprehensive in speaking in groups and dyads  and have lack of the competence in speaking with the acquaintances. It was expected by the authors that the areas recognized by Chesebro are related to the fact that the students with low academic achievement are at risk and the students who are academically talented are at low risk comparatively. The findings of the research by authors are mainly supportive to the findings of Chesebro and showed that the students at risks were mainly apprehensive related to speaking in groups. The students who are academically talented were least apprehensive and on the other hand, the students at risk consider themselves as least competent in speaking to the stranger. The students who are academically talented consider themselves as most competent. Hence, the results of the investigation and the study by Chesebro et al., the major communication variable that affects success academically is self perceived competency in speaking to the strangers and the apprehension associated to speaking in groups. These two variables of the communication are the resultant of the ability of the people to communicate and affect the communication (Rosenfeld, Grant III, & McCroskey, 1995).  

In order to achieve growth in the communication and eliminate the communication plan, it is important to work upon the issues. Here, I have prepared an action plan that I will follow for the next six months which will help me to overcome the issues of the communication that are 1) self perception of inability to speak in public and inability to speak with people from the different culture  and 2) being borderline talkaholic. For these identified communication issues, the action plan that I will follow will include reading the books related to reducing the fear of public speaking. The books related this will help me to understand why I become anxious when it comes to public speaking. I will practice to speak initially in front of the mirror so that I can build enough confidence to speak. I will try to grab every small opportunity I will get for public speaking so that I can eliminate the fear and can speak in front of large audience later (King, 2017). I will take help of experts of public speaking so that they can help me to reduce the anxiety. This will somehow help me to build confidence to speak in front of large audience (Thomas, 2009). In context to eliminate the issue of talkativeness, I will consult with some expert so that he can help me build the habit to speak as per the need and not to talk too much. The guidance from the experts will allow me to develop the habit to speak when needed and will help to develop the habit to control speaking in the certain type of situations that can result in negative experience for the others. I will read some books related to effect of the talkative and the ways to bring changes in the habit of talkativeness (Long, Fortney, & Johnson, 2009). Reading book and the guidance from the experts can help in reducing the issue and I will be able to control to speak much (Rodriques, 2000). Following these actions can help me to develop although it is not that easy as it will take time to reduce the fear of public speaking and eliminate the habit of talkativeness.

Action plan	Time duration
Read books related to eliminating the anxiety of public speaking	15 days
Coaching from the public speaking experts	3 months
Reading books related to changing the habit of talkativeness	15 days
Coaching from the experts for controlling the habit of talkativeness	2 months

Through following this action plan for the next 6 months will eventually helps me to resolve the communication issues. This action plan will provide support and during the time period of six moths I can focus upon establishing the ability to communicate effectively among the people and can eliminate issues. The improvement or the development in the communication can be identified through the reviews from the experts and the people from my workplace (Kumar, 2011). They will be able to provide me with the feedback and their perception related to the improvement in my communication skills in comparison to the earlier time (Gupta, 2003).

In conclusion, the reflection process and the identification of the communication issues through it helped in focusing upon the areas of communication which were not that effective. The diagnostic tools helped in identifying the issues. The action plan provided support to implement the actions for enhancing the weak areas in communication.

References

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Candlin, C. N., & Sarangi, S. (2011). Handbook of Communication in Organisations and Professions. Walter de Gruyter.

Dwyer, J. (2012). Communication for Business and the Professions: Strategies and Skills. Pearson Higher Education AU.

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Kumar, N. (2011). Communication Skills for Professionals. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.

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